All the Orioles news that's fit to print

[Old Beta]

McKamey's predictions are incredible, John.

If you mean difficult to believe, the original sense of the word incredible, I think I'd agree.

What is the point of saying that Xavier Avery, who has played a handful of games at the GCL after graduating from high school, has a 10% chance of reaching his potential? And why should we care today?

You could probably say the same thing about anyone that age. So what?

Avery will demonstrate soon enough on the playing field whether he will reach his potential.

[jcroemer]

If you mean difficult to believe, the original sense of the word incredible, I think I'd agree.

What is the point of saying that Xavier Avery, who has played a handful of games at the GCL after graduating from high school, has a 10% chance of reaching his potential? And why should we care today?

You could probably say the same thing about anyone that age. So what?

Avery will demonstrate soon enough on the playing field whether he will reach his potential.

You make a great point. McKamey's rating of a player is a tiny little piece of what he does when he provides a scouting report.

On Avery:

Plus athlete with game-changning speed and the short/compact stroke that is conducive to hitting for BA. Power could be limited due to flat bat plane and contact-first approach, but should improve with physical maturity. Possesses excellent range and instincts in CF, but arm strength is well below average.

I think the point of rating minor league players is to gauge the strength of your depth chart. In 2008 McKamey saw Wieters as a 9B now in 2009 as a 10C. It's just a means of comparing players - nothing is etched in stone.

[jcroemer]

Camden Chat has a blog up about the chances that Adam Jones will break out this year. Certainly young Adam Jones has bulked up over the offseason which should help him stay strong through August and September. There is some question about his control of the strike zone. Adam needs to be patient at the plate and a lot of these issues would take care of themselves.

Roch is up and firing off blogs already this morning, reporting such things as Peter Schmuck being peed on by a box turtle. Roch also reports that B.J. Surhoff will be in camp this week. Brian Matusz will start Tuesday's game against the Italian national team.

["Mickey" Manto]

In other news, the Stanford Financial scandal is causing some tough consequences for some ballplayers. For example, Johnny Damon's assets are frozen right now. The far-reaching scandal also includes assets belonging to Matt Wieters and Jake Arrieta.

I think the best thing that could come out of this financial scandal for Orioles fans is for it to create some kind of rift between Boras Corp. and Arrieta and Wieters. Jake even has a quote from today's Sun that says he's looking into Boras' involvement. I'd love to see them dump Boras and then go with someone like Ron Shapiro...

[jcroemer]

Roch got Matusz talking about his Tuesday start. Brad Hennessey goes on Wednesday. Finally, a little more about today's workout.

Peter Schmuck offers us two short pieces about Chris Ray, the resolution of the Henderickson-Roberts feud and a quip on D-Cab.

There isn't much in the national news this Sunday evening save for the sad news that ex-Oriole Jason Johnson is facing retina cancer. Only about 2,000 people get this a year and it's very likely he will be fine, but keep him in your thoughts anyway.

[jcroemer]

Jeff Zrebiec features Melvin Mora in a piece today in The Sun. Mora on his contract:

"It's one at a time. Now, it's Nick. Tomorrow, it's Brian. Then next is Aubrey Huff. Maybe I'm last or maybe I'm not. But I cannot get mad. The only thing I can do is thank the Orioles organization. So many great things happened to me in this organization, and to my family, too. Plus, it's not my decision. It's the general manager's. I think he'll come out with something good for the team."

"I would love to be here for the rest of my career, but that's not my decision," Mora said. "It's Andy MacPhail's decision, and whenever he is ready to talk, we'll be ready to talk."

Next up for Zrebiec is Brandon Snyder, who is having an "awesome" time in camp.

Snyder on camp:

"Just listening to those guys talk about baseball was an awesome experience," said Snyder, the Orioles' first-round pick in 2005, who is at major league spring training for the first time. "Obviously, coming here for the first time, you get a lot of nerves involved, but once you kind of get past that, it's just another day of baseball. It's a lot easier to relax and kind of do your job. The guys here are great. It's been a great experience."

Here is a story out of Dayton, Florida about the Orioles' plans to relocate spring training.

[jcroemer]

Let's do some quick hits to get you caught up:

Roch started his day blogging about Jim Miller before a story on how excited Brad Hennessey is to start Wednesday. By ten this morning Roch compiled a third blog regarding Salazar, the Players' Association meeting and Quiroz's fake smile. After lunch, Roch broke out DT's Tuesday lineup and then Kranitz's rotation in theory. Kubatko couldn't stop there and fired off one more wrapping the union meeting with Fehr.

Schmuck filed a story regarding the Fehr meeting. His blog concerned itself with Felix Pie, Fehr, Kranitz, tomorrow's lineup and much, much more.

Anthony Amobi of MVN addresses Luke Scott's preference to play the field, not just DH. KFFL does their impact analysis of the Orioles' bullpen. KFFL also offered a piece about Rich Hill's practices.

[jcroemer]

Orioles baseball resumes today, 2/24, with an exhibition against the Italian national team. Tomorrow, 2/25, marks the opening of the Grapefruit League. 105.7 The Fan will be broadcasting tomorrow's exhibition against the Mets. Tune in at 1:05 p.m. to remember how you fell in love in the first place. Monday, April 6 is Opening Day.

To mark the start of real games, I give you this:

Don't tell me about the world. Not today. It's springtime and they're knocking a baseball around fields where the grass is damp and green in the morning and the kids are trying to hit the curve ball. ~Pete Hamill

Roch shot out one more blog last night, summarizing the day's workouts. He covers Hammock, Uehara, Wieters and Ty Wigginton taking grounders at short.

Brad Hennessey is the subject of a piece that Schmuck published today. Schmuck and Hennessey are wondering if his getting an early start is a sign of bigger things to come.

The Philly Daily News reports that Mike Costanzo made the Italian national team. Good, we'll be able to play against him today.

Christopher Stoner sits down with Tom Tango, author of "The Book: Playing the Percentages in Baseball."

[jcroemer]

USA Today covers the Hennessey start.

Roch gives us ball/strike counts for each pitcher from the game against Italy. Chris Tillman recovered from a horrible bullpen session to dominate the Italian batters. Of course, the Orioles won 4-0. Roch gives us excerpts from the dugout chatter.

Zrebiec asks how large Felix's slice of playing time pie will be. Let the Pie jokes begin! And of course, Schmuck is full ahead go for the Grapefruit League games.

Finally, the Grapefruit League gets underway today; here is your "Exhibition Opening Day" lineup.

[jcroemer]

So what did we learn today?

Roch had diarrhea of the blog today but kept us very well informed about the opening game of the Grapefruit League. Here is Spencer Fordin's wrap on the Orioles' 9-3 loss to the Mets.

Peter Schmuck filed a story on Hennessey's elbow stiffness.

WJZ ran a story on the Orioles Stimulus Package. Click to find out what discounts you'll be able to take advantage of this year.

CBS Sports thinks the Orioles are not worth internet column space.

The Blue Jays added Mike Bordick to their minor league staff.

In ex-Oriole news, Miggy dropped out of the WBC citing his preference to sit on the bench and wait for a chance to play short rather than play first base. What a long, strange trip it's become.

[jcroemer]

CHONE projections are out. Orioles, 5th, 74-88.

[jcroemer]

Today's Orioles lineup features Felix Pie in center and Wieters DH'ing. Also, here is Roch's wrap on the 11-3 victory yesterday.

Here are some links to Baseball America's Top 100 Prospects. Of course, Matt Wieters is Number One.

The Miami Herald asks why Fehr and Selig are not under indictment and Vince McMahon is.

KFFL reports Nick Markakis will be a papa very soon.

The Baltimore Sun runs a feature on Cesar Izturis.

The Yankees told Alex Roidriguez that his cousin is not welcome around the team any longer.

[Moose Milligan]

This thread should be stickied or something, theres a lot of great news in here.

[RShack]

This thread should be stickied or something, theres a lot of great news in here.

Seconded .

[HeatherC12]

Thirded! Thanks for taking the time to post all the news. It saves me time when I'm in a hurry and want to know what's going on with the O's.

I hope we hear news about Nick's little one soon. That's so exciting for him!